Ridge Lovett keeps stacking statements.
The Nebraska wrestler, who first put himself on the college map with an NCAA title in 2025, added another big one on Wednesday in Budapest, where he won gold at the Hungary Ranking Series event against a loaded field. It was the latest in a run that has been hard to ignore: earlier this year at the US Open, Lovett won the tournament and advanced to Final X before falling to former World Champion Zain Retherford in two matches. Then this summer, he rolled through the Pan-American Championships without giving up a point.
Budapest brought a different kind of test, and Lovett handled that too.
His run opened in the quarterfinal round against Iran’s Ebrahim Elahichouran, a former U17 World Champion and U20 bronze-medalist. Lovett came away with a 9-4 decision, using sharp par terre work and counter wrestling to separate himself.
The semifinal was supposed to be tougher, and on paper it was. Azerbaijan’s Kanan Heybatov arrived with a résumé that included U20 and U23 World titles and a 14-4 technical superiority win over Penn State’s PJ Duke last year.
Lovett didn’t let the matchup breathe. He locked up a cradle while already ahead 6-0 and finished the match with a pinfall.
That set up the final against Georgia’s Akaki Kemertelidze, a multi-time European medalist. Kemertelidze had just beaten the top-rated 70 kg wrestler in the world, Tulga Tumur-Ochir of Mongolia, 3-2 in the other semifinal, but Lovett came out in control from the start.
He scored first on a counter, then added two more points on a gut wrench to move in front 4-0. Later in the period, he picked up another takedown and stretched the lead to 6-0.
The second period never really changed the shape of the match. Lovett seemed content to wait for Kemertelidze to attack so he could cash in on his counter offense, but Kemertelidze never truly opened up. That left Lovett cruising to a 6-0 win and the Ranking Series gold medal.
Lovett entered the event ranked No. 16 in the world at 70 kilograms by FloWrestling, but that number may not hold for long. On Wednesday, he beat No.
15 Heybatov and No. 12 Kemertelidze, right after Kemertelidze had knocked off No.
1 Tumur-Ochir, and he did it with a level of control that stood out from start to finish.
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